By Amrit Singh
You could almost hear the collective moan come from Brooklyn when news broke that Liars’s manic lead man Angus Andrew had thrown out his back a few weeks ago (picking up a pillow, of all things). From the day the band’s bill with No Age at Brooklyn’s Warsaw (home of delicious pieorogis and massive Polish flags) was announced, it was a must-hit for lovers of live bedlam; Angus’s brand of formal-wear shamanism is a unique spectacle, and No Age has been making weirdo ripples for its tendency toward high energy high jinx for a good while now, too. And as expected, No Age delivered. Maybe a little lower energy than last time, but when standard practice includes standing on amps and either bringing the kids up onstage or sending your instruments down, energy levels are entirely relative. Heard some new tunes, all promising, all around two minutes long. No surprises.

At break, the stage was set for Angus: a chair, a little table with a bottle of water. How would this work? A friend told me before the show, from his personal experience, it sounded like Andrew had pinched his sciatic nerve (here, learn at Wiki like I did; anyone, in the world, can write anything they want about any subject … so you know you are getting the best possible information). Said friend concluded, “If so, that shit hurts. You can’t move.” I hadn’t seen Liars since my trip to Norway for Øya in ’06, where Angus, donning dress shirt and tie, worked the stage like an I-banker having eaten a little too much mescaline. Of course, it was awesome. Lucky for Warsaw, then, he didn’t seem to want to use that chair very much (for sitting still, anyway; it’s amazing how much drama you can mine from a well timed slow-rise from a seat). I ran into our friend Abbey Braden in the moshpit. She delivers some illustrative video. First, “Drum And The Uncomfortable Can”:

Right, so AA was battling his own restlessness the entire night: out of the chair whenever possible, head shaking, hip swaying, arms spread, raising pure unevil. Even while in the chair — arresting. Our night’s gain appeared to be the next’s loss, though; leaving the stage he said something like “We’re cancelling tomorrow night’s show. Good night, everybody!” And, poor Philly, he wasn’t fooling. (It doesn’t appear the back’s to blame for that cancellation, at least not officially; rather, it’s a case of projectile vomiting.) For the Philly folk, and for the Liars lovers, the jump’s good stuff: you’ll find more of Abbey’s videos and tons of dashing-in-pink Angus pics. If you’ve got a ticket to see Liars this tour, don’t sell it.

“Houseclouds”

“A Visit From Drum”

“Pure Unevil”

LIARS

NO AGE